Her hands and arms were worthy of a sovereign.
But she had one ineradicable sign of low birth,--her foot was short and fat.

No inherited quality ever caused greater distress.

Florine had tried everything, short of amputation, to get rid of it.

The feet were obstinate, like the Breton race from which she came; they resisted all treatment.

Florine now wore long boots stuffed with cotton, to give length, and the semblance of an instep.